Get Off the Beach

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I’m sure we’ve all seen the video footage; vacationers at a hotel, first confused by the extremely low-tide and then transfixed by the ever rising tide, staring at and discussing the puzzling sea. The person holding the camera, and those on the beach near him, not recognizing the danger until it was way too late. You know what I’m talking about.

The Asian Tsunami of 2004 killed more than 225,000 people in eleven countries. Most of these people never recognized the approaching danger for what it was therefore did nothing to avoid it.

In 2 Timothy 3, the Apostle Paul warns his protégé’ of another danger that is swallowing the horizon like an angry sea; a wave of evil so strong that the majority of the world will be swept up in it.

Listen to what he says 2 Timothy 3:1-4 “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”

At the risk of being overly dramatic; there is a tsunami of evil bearing down on us. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, has given us a glimpse into the future, cataloging a litany of destructive behaviors and attitudes like will permeate mankind in the last days. It’s coming. In some sense, it’s here.

Here is my question for us today; how do we keep from getting swept away by it? How do we keep from being one of those who will view the rising tide through a shaky camera lens, discussing it, perplexed by it, but not running from it until it’s way too late?

My strategy for keeping myself, and my family, far from the shoreline of sin and sensuality is to be a person of God’s word, prayer and close fellowship with the people of Christ. I want to immerse myself in service to God and encourage those around me to do the same. I want to so dedicate myself, and my family, to the things of Christ that we are completely consumed by service to others and reaching the broken for the Kingdom. This is all I know to do.

What about you? The roar of the sea can be heard in the distance. What are you doing to get off the beach?